Since this covers more than one game, I figured putting it in General would be the best choice.

As a HUGE Metroid Prime 1 fan, I thought this would be an interesting question to pose to the community. What's better Metroid Prime 1 & 2 on GCN or Trilogy versions on Wii (and Wii U)?

So for me this is a really hard question to answer and there's several reasons why. Some of those reasons may come off as a bit hokey but just bear with me.

So here are the reasons why this is hard for me to answer:

Metroid Prime 1 and 2 had particle effects for the beams on GCN that couldn't be ported to the Trilogy counterparts.

Metroid Prime 1 had a different set of Chozo Lore and Pirate Data scans for the NTSC original NA release vs the PAL GCN release which was used for the basis of the Trilogy port.

Controls for both versions of the games on both GCN and Wii were very well done and translate between the ports very very easily.

Sound effects in both versions are different (at least in Metroid Prime 1, not sure about 2).

Animation changes between the PAL and NTSC versions of the games (as stated before Trilogy versions are based on PAL release not NTSC)

Speed running/sequence breaking patched in Wii ports.

Difficulty changes (an easy mode was basically added in)

Ultimately this makes it hard for me to say which version is superior. Personally I will always like the original NA GCN release for the lore scans and pirate data scans much better but that's nostalgia talking. I definitely appreciate the re-written scans though. As for sound effects, again the original version is always going to have my heart. And the same with the animations. That said, there is no refuting how awesome the motion controls are when added in the Metroid Prime 1 and 2. The controls made those already AMAZING titles even better for immersion and became my favorite of the 2 controls schemes. As far as the speed running, I never really took advantage of those glitches... that said, I'm VERY proud to say I own the version that you can do that on. And with the particle effects, that's a shame they couldn't get them to translate over. I absolutely loved those effects and I hate that they aren't in the Trilogy version. Lastly we have the difficulty changes. This is a change I both love and hate. I love it for Metorid Prime 2 which was just and insanely hard game (Metroid Souls basically), but I felt the original difficulty on Metroid Prime was very fair and not that bad. So I don't really feel it needed an easy mode of sorts.

All of that said, I still can't say which version is that much better. I suppose the Trilogy version makes it more accessible for new players with the easy mode (new normal). But in the end I'm still left with the burning question about which is better.

So what do you guys think? Which do you prefer and why? Is there any major reason you would pick one over the other? I'd love to hear what the community thinks on this issue!

I would say Prime 1 on the GCN just because of the Ice Pirates. They are such a pain to deal with without being able to freeze and shatter them. Prime 2 on Trilogy just because of the Spider Guardian. I beat both of them on the GCN so of course I have nostalgia for them. As far as control schemes go, I kind of prefer GCN, granted I haven't played Trilogy in forever.